I need a little bit of education on dog food. I had Sophie in for her annual check up with the vet. Everything looks great with her health so far and the only issue is an ear infection which we are looking after.
I discussed Sophie's insatiable appetite with our vet. She had a good laugh because Sophie is a typical Lab with food. She is extremely food motivated and always seems to be looking for something and always eating everything she comes across. She loves her food and when she eats she is done in seconds which bothers us. Anyway the vet seem to think she is getting enough to eat but suggested that I look for a denser food for her. She then mentioned the brand they sell Medical which is horrible for ingredients.

So my question is "what am I looking for"? higher protein, no grains? I am not sure. We tried awhile ago to switch her over to Orijen but I think it was too rich for her?? I could try that again as it has been awhile.

She currently is eating Nutro Lamb and Brown Rice which isn't the best food at all but it seems to work for her.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
-Unknown

You could call your vet back and ask what they mean . I would think it meant something more filling . I use to feed Marty Evanger's canned dog food ,they have some that all meat and very filling but it's has to be mixed with other dog food as it's not a balance diet .

How is her weight, Winston? If her weight is good, she has good energy and tolerates her food well, I'm not sure I'd change anything. Labbies are notorious food hounds...no matter how much you give her, she's going to want more.

What about the ear infection? Is that an ongoing problem that might be due to food intolerance? If so, I might want to experiment with other foods, then, but otherwise, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" might apply.

If you want her to eat a little slower, maybe put a Kong or a piece of large-link chain (too big to be swallowed ) in her bowl when you feed her. That should slow her down a bit. But as long as she's been keeping it down (not throwing it up from eating too fast), that's probably unnecessary, too.

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Dense just means a lot of something crammed into a certain space. Food could be more or less calorie dense, protein dense, fat dense, nutrient dense. That would mean simply it has more of those per measure than some other foods. You could ask your Vet which of several possible ingredients she was specifically thinking of but unless the Vet stores all food ingredient percentages in her head how does she know the amounts of each in the food you are using anyway? Most of us would have to sit down and look them up and I bet the Vet does too. If the food Sophie is on is working well for her I wouldn't be looking for a change either.

For education on dog food ingredients I like The Dog Food Project for it's explanation of what ingredients really are and how necessary or good or bad they are. I caution against sites that rate foods, I've found them to be biased and often out of date. Go right to the manufacturer's site for ingredients, there's just no beating learning and doing your own research.

LOL, I will somewhat contradict myself. I do rotate foods. So even though my food from the breeder is fine I decided to rotate in two others and vary the main protein and filler sources. I used the protein, fat and kcal/cup measures of my first food as a measure to find others with very close numbers.

Good luck, the food investigations nearly drove me whacky. Not something I ever thought I'd need to know about. I still have lots to learn, but I feel more condident about making my own decsions now.

Thanks everyone! The vet said she felt Sophie should be eating approx 650 kcal per day. I checked her current food and it shows 339 kcal per cup so I figure I am okay with the amount of calories.

The reason I brought this up to the vet is not only Sophie being so food motivated but the bag of food says that I should be feeding her based on her weight of 52 pds 3/12 - 4 cups per day and I currently only feed her 2 cups per day....???

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
-Unknown

Thanks everyone! The vet said she felt Sophie should be eating approx 650 kcal per day. I checked her current food and it shows 339 kcal per cup so I figure I am okay with the amount of calories.

The reason I brought this up to the vet is not only Sophie being so food motivated but the bag of food says that I should be feeding her based on her weight of 52 pds 3/12 - 4 cups per day and I currently only feed her 2 cups per day....???

If she is a healthy weight then the amount you are feeding is correct.

My first Lab girl was 56 pounds and she got about 800 calories a day and was a lean, healthy weight. My current Lab boy is 75 pounds and is getting about 1200 calories a day and is also a lean, healthy weight.

I did the math and my boy weighs about 34% more than my girl did but he needs 50% more in calories each day, same food. LOL, I have no idea what the bag says they should get.

Thanks everyone! The vet said she felt Sophie should be eating approx 650 kcal per day. I checked her current food and it shows 339 kcal per cup so I figure I am okay with the amount of calories.

The reason I brought this up to the vet is not only Sophie being so food motivated but the bag of food says that I should be feeding her based on her weight of 52 pds 3/12 - 4 cups per day and I currently only feed her 2 cups per day....???

I was told by my vet not to feed my dog the amount of food that suggested on the bag of food b/c the company want you buy more food and will tell you to feed more food than your dog need.

I need a little bit of education on dog food. I had Sophie in for her annual check up with the vet. Everything looks great with her health so far and the only issue is an ear infection which we are looking after.
I discussed Sophie's insatiable appetite with our vet. She had a good laugh because Sophie is a typical Lab with food. She is extremely food motivated and always seems to be looking for something and always eating everything she comes across. She loves her food and when she eats she is done in seconds which bothers us. Anyway the vet seem to think she is getting enough to eat but suggested that I look for a denser food for her. She then mentioned the brand they sell Medical which is horrible for ingredients.

So my question is "what am I looking for"? higher protein, no grains? I am not sure. We tried awhile ago to switch her over to Orijen but I think it was too rich for her?? I could try that again as it has been awhile.

She currently is eating Nutro Lamb and Brown Rice which isn't the best food at all but it seems to work for her.Consider these features on the label of the product:
o Loaded with protein
o Low fat, Low calorie
o No preservatives
o No artificial colors
o No artificial flavors
o No binding agents
o Soy free
o Gluten free
o Grain free
o All natural,
o long lasting